The exemplary embodiment relates to systems of shared devices, such as networked printers. It finds particular application in connection with a system and method for providing a measure of the expected time-to-collect a job which has been initiated on one of the shared devices, based on prior data, and to a method for reconstructing prior time-to-collect data for generating such a measure in the case where only partial prior data is available.
Computer networks commonly include several computers which are capable of communicating with each other and with other devices on the network. In an office environment, a limited number of resource devices, typically printers, are shared among several office workers. Such networks derive cost benefits by shared usage of the printers. It is therefore desirable for the shared devices to be appropriately located and used efficiently. There are several measures that are calculated in office environments for assessing whether the services being provided are adequate to meet the needs of users of the network. Examples of such measures include the number of documents being printed, the expected time-to-print a document, and the time to availability of a printer.
None of these measures, however, considers the behavior of a user. In office environments, documents are typically printed in support of work activities that may vary from person to person. Some people tend to use a just-in-time approach to printing, i.e., printing documents just before they are needed, e.g., on the way to a meeting. Other people tend to print before leaving work in order to read the documents later in the day. Others are in the habit of printing several documents during the day and then collecting them in a batch after a number of them have been printed. These examples illustrate that it cannot be assumed that a document is immediately collected once printed. Thus, using one of the existing measures for assessing whether the printers are adequately meeting the needs of the users does not serve the objective of determining whether a printed document is ready for collection when a user wants to collect it. This information, if available, could be useful in assessing how the printer is used, and also in more complex applications, such as in deciding how to reprioritize some print jobs when one job is urgently needed.
The present application provides a new measure based on the time-to-collect a job, such as a print job, and methods for determining it when only partial data is available.